Monthly Archives: August 2014

Mary Anderson, an American actress abroad

On the 29th August 1885 a special performance took place at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre. The famous Mary Anderson and her Company staged As You Like It as a Benefit for the Shakespeare Memorial Fund. Although her name is now … Continue reading

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Keeping Shakespeare’s spirit alive at New Place, his final home

In August 2014 a further consultation is taking place on the future of New Place, Shakespeare’s last home, the final public consultation day being 30 August. Since the first consultation last year, I’ve spent a lot of time reading about … Continue reading

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The pioneering Flowers of Stratford-upon-Avon

Today there are few places where you will see the name of Flower in Stratford-upon-Avon apart from in a pub, but a hundred or even fifty years ago Flowers Brewery was one of the major employers in the town with … Continue reading

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Remembering Bosworth and the death of Richard III

22 August marks the anniversary of the Battle of Bosworth at which in 1485 the ruling king of England, Richard III, was killed. With Henry VII taking the throne it was the end of the Plantagenet era and the beginning … Continue reading

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Holy Trinity’s American tributes to Shakespeare in glass

The affection that Stratford is held in by Americans has been demonstrated in a number of buildings and monuments: the American Fountain in Rother Street, opened in 1887, for example. Less well-known is the American Window in the south transept … Continue reading

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Jeremy Irons and Shakespeare

Jeremy Irons is one of our most distinctive and charismatic actors, who has distinguished himself in a whole range of films and TV series. In recent years he’s helped to bring new audiences to Shakespeare with his depiction of Henry … Continue reading

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Taking notes: Shakespeare and table-books

In the latest edition of Theatre Notebook, published by the Society for Theatre Research, June Schlueter* considers the connection between Hamlet’s “tables”, and the two exceedingly rare drawings that have come down to us showing us what the Elizabethan playhouse … Continue reading

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Two American Shakespeareans: James Hackett, father and son

The Royal Shakespeare Theatre contains a little memorial that has always interested me. Just by the fountain at the base of the spiral staircase is a plaque dedicated to The American actor James K Hackett, 1869-1926, “a generous benefactor to … Continue reading

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Harvest time in Shakespeare’s England

For once the English summer hasn’t let us down and until the last few days we’ve enjoyed weeks of fine, warm weather. August is harvest-time. In The Tempest, Shakespeare writes of the “sunburnt sickle men, of August weary”, and tell … Continue reading

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Stratford, the Shakespeare Revival and World War 1

I have on my shelves a book entitled The Shakespeare Revival: the Stratford-upon-Avon Movement, probably acquired by my father in a second-hand shop years ago.  It’s always puzzled me. The book was published in 1911, and seems to expect the … Continue reading

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